This year has marked an exciting milestone for the Rhodes community: the first ever Global Welcome Home Weekend, bringing together recent Scholars across four regions - North America, Africa, Europe, and Asia-Pacific - for a shared experience of reflection, connection, and reconnection.
An evolution of the original programme launched in 2017 by Swati Mylavarapu (Florida & Wolfson 2005) and Noorain Khan (Michigan & St Antony’s 2006), Welcome Home Weekend supports Scholars transitioning from residence in Oxford into the wider Rhodes community. In this context, ‘home’ doesn’t always mean where they came from, the region they were elected from, or even where they have spent most of their life. For many, home is a place they choose to build, belong and grow after Oxford. Wherever ‘home’ may be, the programme intends to support Scholars in finding a community at the heart of it.
This year, with generous support from Swati, Alumni Associations and Scholars around the world, we have brought Welcome Home Weekend to a global stage with four intimate residential weekends in Washington DC, Cape Town, Singapore and London. So far, we have hosted the first three and are looking forward to delivering the Europe edition later this year.
A Theme of Journeys
Across the board, the 2025 theme of “Journeys” resonated deeply. In each location, Scholars explored the paths they have taken, or plan to take, post-Oxford, the questions they are grappling with now, and the futures they are building. The weekends included programming on career exploration, personal development, transitions, and building support networks, with a unique regional flavour in each setting.
Participants included Scholars who matriculated between 2018 and 2022, many of whom are navigating the early years just after Oxford. So far, 50 Scholars have attended the events, with more than 230 Alumni engaged as speakers, dinner hosts and networking event attendees across the series.
Reflective, Creative, and Community-Focused Programming
We kicked off each weekend with a film screening of Honeyland, a quiet, powerful story about resilience and transition, setting the tone for the reflective work to come. A creative addition this year was the collaborative staging of locally rooted plays, echoing themes of leadership, identity, and change.
Saturday sessions brought a blend of Socratic debates, Alumni panels, and self-directed breakout conversations on topics ranging from “Making Meaningful Work” and “Breaking Free from the Burnout Cycle” to “Startup Ecosystems in Africa” and “Spiralling Dreams.” The programming empowered Scholars to shape the agenda and brought together voices from across disciplines, geographies, and professional fields.
We are very grateful to our Alumni dinner hosts, who offered their homes and time to meet with the recent graduates. These were discipline-specific dinners where Scholars were paired with Alumni by sector, sparking both career advice and new friendships.
Impact and Reflections
The weekends concluded with informal brunches, giving Scholars a chance to debrief and look ahead. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so far, with some lovely reflections:
“I returned to Kenya feeling renewed—grounded, inspired, and reawakened to show up more authentically in every space I step into.”
“It has reminded me what an amazing community this is, and what a privilege it is to be part of it… I’ve built much deeper connections with other Scholars, across cohorts and constituencies.”
Looking Ahead
This global pilot revealed how much Scholars value and need spaces to reconnect post-Oxford, particularly in regions where the Alumni network is smaller, or can feel more dispersed. It also highlighted the importance of cultural responsiveness and local adaptation, something we will carry forward into future iterations.
We are excited to host the Europe edition in September 2025 and can’t wait to continue building this global tradition together.